“Pénurie” is the French word for scarcity, and it’s been heard quite a bit over the past few weeks. Gas shortages, electricity shortages, recently also: petrol shortages. While Germany is particularly concerned about the rise in gas prices, queues are growing longer and longer in front of gas stations in France. And this is not only due to the fact that many motorists want to benefit quickly from the fuel discount of 30 cents per liter, which will drop to ten cents from November.
According to the French Ministry of Energy, at least one fuel was scarce at about every third filling station last weekend. In some regions of the country, more than half of the gas stations were affected. The energy crisis is only indirectly related to this. The main cause of the fuel shortages are – classically French – strikes in several large French refineries and fuel depots. Since the end of September, many employees have stopped working there and are demanding higher wages. The energy companies Total Energies and Exxon Mobil are particularly affected.
“The past few months have been particularly favorable for the oil industry, bringing it billions in profits,” it said in a statement from the CGT union. Instead of giving unlimited profits to shareholders, the union said the money should go to workers in the industry who are suffering from inflation. The CGT demands subsequent negotiations and ten percent more wages for 2022.
The French media are now full of images of queues in front of gas stations. Commuters complain that they no longer drive to work. The taxi drivers demand that they be given priority when filling up.
“There is no general supply problem,” assures the transport minister
The situation at the pumps is so tense that President Emmanuel Macron even spoke from the informal EU summit in Prague – and urged calm. If you fill up now, you only make the problem worse. The government will act, Macron said on Friday. “There is no general supply problem,” said French Transport Minister Clément Beaune at the weekend. The government has now decided to tap previously sealed fuel reserves. Exceptionally, tankers are also allowed to drive at the weekend to fill up the petrol pumps. “The situation will ease over the course of the week,” promised Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
The energy company Total Energies, whose refinery in Normandy has been hardest hit by the strike, has now responded with an initial offer: it is prepared to hold the annual negotiations, originally scheduled for November, in October – provided the strike is ended. The company did not give a specific date. The unions, on the other hand, do not want to end their strike until a date has been set and negotiations have begun. On Monday, the CGT announced that workers intend to continue their strike on Tuesday.